The authors propose a policy compact to achieve more inclusive growth in G20 countries so that economic growth regains the ultimate sense of improving all people’s lives. Guiding principles are: 1) prosperity is not just about income but about all relevant outcomes of well-being and capabilities to overcome the initial social disadvantage; 2) it is also about including people in participatory decision-making to enhance their dignity and control over their lives; 3) excluding people from reaping the benefits of growth will thwart social cohesion and well-being; 4) integrated policy approaches are needed to achieve inclusive growth, across policy domains and between national and global actions, including responsible management of migratory movements. Concrete policy actions are described that span education, labor, fiscal instruments, public and private governance.

Comments and Questions

Gerasimos Soldatos
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article review

January 20, 2018 - 09:17

This paper presents four interesting ways towards “reducing inequalities and strengthening social cohesion through inclusive growth”; and it does so successfully. Yet, methodologically, the authors of this paper take for granted the presence of inequality and see how its socioeconomic effects can be mitigated; they do not wish to tackle
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...the issue of what to do about the causes of inequality. I think that the authors will have to say something about why their approach is what it is.

1. The paper is concerned with economic inequality in the world economy, defined in a broad sense.
2. PROS: I though that the statistics on income inequality were adequate (even though they may be well known and understood by experts). I also think that the paper is good at trying to
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...offer a taxonomy of policy measures. This classifications are very adequate to think about the problem.
3. CONS: For an economist, the paper may have too much preaching. Economists try to avoid the holistic view, and want to focus on those measures that would seem more relevant. That is, we need quantitative assessments of all those measures, which are usually obtained by econometric analysis or model simulation.We cannot implement all changes at once. Moreover, some economic measures are good on paper but may lead to perverse incentives.
4. Regarding the pillars on pages 6-7, the last three pillars use similar titles, and hence I got the impression that the discussion was a bit repetitive. As already pointed out, I thought that the roadmap for actions had a cleaner presentation, and hence for the most part each item was dealing with a separate issue.

Grigoris Zarotiadis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
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Short notes

February 22, 2018 - 08:00

The paper "Reducing inequalities and strengthening social cohesion through inclusive growth: a roadmap for action" contributes to a long-lasting and quite widened discussion with respect to the “growing unequal” hypothesis that has been sufficiently empirically confirmed, both in spatial as well as in social terms. The authors start with a
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...descriptive statistical analysis that reveals the stylized facts and proceed to their major contribution, which is the proposal of a certain framework for relevant policies and actions. The four pillars and the specific roadmap for actions they propose – nationally and globally – contributes significantly to the relevant debate, moving the discussion from revealing the problem into providing specific, realistic proposals for removing it.